'Vesuvius and Monte Somma from Naples', Joseph Mallord William Turner

Artwork details

Artist

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775‑1851)

Title

Vesuvius and Monte Somma from Naples

From Gandolfo to Naples Sketchbook

Turner Bequest CLXXXIV

Date 1819

MediumGraphite on paper

Dimensionssupport: 122 x 197 mm

Collection

Tate

Acquisition Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

Reference

D15634

Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 40

View this artwork by appointment, at Tate Britain's Prints and Drawings Rooms

Turner's sketchbooks

View this artwork in the Gandolfo to Naples Sketchbook

Catalogue entry

Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851

Folio 41 Recto:

Vesuvius and Monte Somma from Naples 1819

D15634
Turner Bequest CLXXXIV 40

Pencil on white wove paper, 122 x 197 mm

Inscribed by ?John Ruskin in blue ink ‘281’ bottom right and ‘40’ top right
Stamped in black ‘CLXXXIV 40’ bottom right

Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856

References

The subject of this sketch is the peaks of Monte Somma (left) and Vesuvius (right) seen from Naples. A small smoke trail can be seen issuing from the crater of the volcano. The foreground structures are currently unidentified although they may represent part of the old port or arsenal of Naples, on the quayside near Castel Nuovo.

Nicola Moorby
May 2010

Read this catalogue entry in full

This catalogue entry is part of: David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, December 2012.